Digging deep to innovate

It was a proverbial scene of calm before the storm: Two students were playing basketball in the corner of a large dirt playing field while a group of students sat on the steps of the steep stands, taking shelter from the blazing heat of the September afternoon in the shadow of a thick canopy of trees. All of that will change this month when the New Hongik Project, a 441 billion won ($324.5 million) expansion of Hongik University's Seoul campus, breaks ground on Oct. 14. The project, which measur

2026-10-03 16:00:00:00

How South Korea and Singapore are learning from each other in the arts

Seoul Foundation for Arts and Culture and Singapore’s Arts House Group signed a three-year memorandum of understanding in May to facilitate artistic collaborations and exchanges between artists and arts professionals from the two countries. The agreement, which includes institutional partnerships and capability development through residencies and arts venue management exchanges, was the latest in a string of cultural exchanges between Korea and Singapore that have been taking place at different

2026-09-21 09:57:41:00

Kim Ayoung creates new worlds with AI

Featured on Time Magazine’s 2026 list of 100 influential individuals in the field of artificial intelligence last week, Kim Ayoung is one of the most internationally acclaimed multimedia artists today. Kim's numerous awards and recognitions include the 2026 Chanel Next Prize, the third LG Guggenheim Award in 2025, the inaugural ACC Future Prize awarded by the National Asian Culture Center in Gwangju in 2024, and the Golden Nica Award’s top prize in the animation art category in 2023. The list of

2026-09-03 11:28:40:00

Lee Seung-yoon comes full circle with 'Album 0'

From a struggling bedroom musician to a festival headliner — this is the story of singer-songwriter Lee Seung-yoon. After a decade-long struggle as an indie musician singing in underground clubs, busking on Seoul streets and recording music at home, Lee had a breakthrough when he won the top prize on JTBC’s audition program “Sing Again” season 1 in 2021. The show, which started airing during the COVID-19 lockdown, became a huge hit as viewers wondered how such talented musicians could have been

2026-08-18 08:51:23:00

Family treasure once thought destroyed finds place at MMCA

Every family has its own lore. Older family members recall a person or incident related to the family that they have heard about from their elders. Although details are often lacking, these stories are passed down from one generation to the next as a crucial part of the family’s shared history. Retold enough times, they acquire the status of family lore. For years, Diana Kang had dismissed a tall tale repeated at big family gatherings as mere family lore. For as long as she could remember, the r

2026-07-07 09:00:00:00

'There Are No Words' airs the unspoken

For Korean Canadian film director Lee Min-sook, the COVID pandemic was the big push behind her documentary “There Are No Words,” a deeply personal and political film. “There Are No Words” is Lee’s ninth film in a career that spans 25 years. The film appears to be a departure from her previous works that have dealt with issues such as migrant farmers in Canada and city politics. “It’s taken me a while to approach this story because it’s the central story of my life,” Lee said during an interview

2026-06-09 06:32:04:00

Desire exposed at National Gallery Singapore show

SINGAPORE — The entrance to the exhibition tucked away on Level 4 of the sprawling National Gallery Singapore is closed, its doors covered in what appears to be red tape printed with the exhibition title: “Passion is Volcanic: Desire in Southeast Asian Art.” It is an effective marketing ploy; when something is prohibited, people often desire it more. As you open the door to the museum’s first-ever age-restricted exhibition (rated 18), a guide gives you a cursory look to check if you are eligible

2026-06-01 18:24:22:00

Fun, inclusivity stand out at Singapore arts fest

SINGAPORE — Art and fun ruled at this year’s Singapore International Festival of Arts, which ended its 16-day run at the Festival Village and various venues across the city on Saturday. Titled “Legacy” with a tagline “Let’s Play,” this year’s edition of the annual festival organized by Arts House Group saw productions from home and abroad entertaining audiences with everything from comedy and lightworks to dance and drama. Commissioned by SIFA, “Makan Culture,” by playwright Jo Tan and director

2026-06-01 18:07:04:00

Lee Hye-young explores artistic value, freedom, desire through Hedda

Actor Lee Hye-young is on the floor stretching, as is the rest of the cast of the National Theater Company of Korea’s production of Henrik Ibsen's “Hedda Gabler,” preparing for a run-through of the play Thursday at the National Theater of Korea in Jangchung-dong, Seoul. “Hedda Gabler,” directed by the NTCK Artistic Director and CEO Park Jung-hee, is to be staged at the Drama Center Theater in Singapore from May 28-30, as part of this year’s Singapore International Festival of Arts. In a fitted l

2026-05-26 20:04:45:00

NTCK's 'Hedda Gabler' heads to Singapore

National Theater Company of Korea’s 2025 runaway hit, “Hedda Gabler,” is touring overseas for the first time at the Singapore International Festival of Arts 2026, which kicks off Friday. The contemporary reimagining of Henrik Ibsen’s play — helmed by the company’s artistic director Park Jung-hee and featuring veteran actor Lee Hye-young, who reprised the role of Hedda Tesman after playing it in 2012 — performed to a sold-out audience for all 22 shows at the Myeongdong Theater in Seoul in May 202

2026-05-13 17:16:14:00